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Before Avril Lavigne could cover the theme to “SpongeBob SquarePants” for the pineapple-dweller’s upcoming movie soundtrack, some changes had to be made. After all, a girl known for wearing combat boots, spiked jewelry and clothing emblazoned with skulls and crossbones couldn’t sing lyrics as silly as “absorbent and yellow and porous is he” with the same sing-songy bounce as the original. “I made the song a little more edgy,” Lavigne said. “It’s kind of like the rock version of [the original]. There are a lot of loud guitars, and we picked the tempo up a little and sang it with… Read more »

Pity the television fan who doesn’t like the music of U2. After a blizzard of Apple iTunes commercials featuring the band’s new single, “Vertigo,” blanketed television screens nationwide in October, the band is once again turning to the tube to usher in a second wave of exposure. To promote their new record, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which drops Nov. 23, the Irish foursome will pull musical guest duty on NBC’s Saturday Night Live later this month. And, in an even more novel strategy, the band is teaming with CBS’ runaway hit CSI to will roll out tracks from… Read more »

New York – The breach of contract suit suggests Jay-Z was perturbed because Kelly was the higher-paid performer. The animosity led to deliberate lighting flubs and other technical problems, violence against Kelly, and threats to force the promoter to drop him, court papers say. The promoter is also named as a defendant. Kelly, whose best-known hit is “I Believe I Can Fly,” accused one of Jay-Z’s associates of blasting him with pepper spray early Saturday at Madison Square Garden. He was treated at a hospital and released. A short time later, the tour’s promoter, Atlanta Worldwide Touring, fired Kelly. He… Read more »

Billy Howerdel is usually the quiet giant in A Perfect Circle. Sure, the guitarist does most of the interviews, but frontman Maynard James Keenan has always been the band’s mouthpiece, even if he traditionally has been press-shy. With an important presidential election on the horizon, however, Howerdel is through keeping his thoughts to himself. “Ordinarily, I hate talking about politics,” he said. “I usually heed the warning of many elders that say, ‘Never discuss it with your friends, or certainly publicly,’ but it’s an important time to voice your opinions and feelings.” It’s hardly a secret which candidate A Perfect… Read more »

After a 25-year absence from the #1 album spot, J Records artist Rod Stewart with his album Stardust… The Great American Songbook: Volume III enters the Billboard 200 Album chart at #1 on a first week Soundscan total of 240,043 copies sold. The Songbook albums are a musical and cultural phenomenon, and are now the biggest-selling ongoing series of new music recordings in history. This is also Rod Stewart’s first ever #1 debut on the Billboard Top 200 chart. Stardust is the follow-up to 2002’s It Had To Be You… The Great American Songbook (which spent 85 weeks on the… Read more »

Diana DeGarmo, the “American Idol” runner-up, sang the national anthem before the Busch race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday. While it was her first trip to the track south of Atlanta, it wasn’t her first NASCAR race. “The first race I ever went to was the Brickyard 400 when I was 10 or 11,” the 17-year-old singer said. “That was a blast. I got a hat and bear, the whole thing.” DeGarmo lives in Snellville, a suburb east of Atlanta. Her first album, “Blue Skies,” is scheduled to be released Dec. 7.

Since Simple Plan’s new album Still Not Getting Any… showed up in stores last week a single question has been plaguing the collective hearts and sad poetry of teenage girls across the country: what exactly isn’t this Montreal-based, pop-punk five-piece getting? Respect? Rock credibility? Happiness? Special friends of the vaginal persuasion? It’s hard to tell since you’d think they’d be on cloud nine after their debut album was certified platinum and shot them into the realm of disenchanted youth superstars. Well, it’s no secret that the band’s unrelenting flow of bouncing, pop melodies, which include just enough angst to pass… Read more »

Since his retirement, Jay-Z says he’s been courted by several labels. But not only to rap: They want to give the Jiggaman an executive position, and one such position could be the president of Def Jam Records. For the last few weeks, rumors have been running rampant that Jay will soon take the job, which is second in command to Def Jam CEO LA Reid. Some say the deal will be finalized in less than a week. Jay does acknowledge that he’s been getting offers, but says he hasn’t accepted anything yet. “It’s just talks in the air right now,”… Read more »

Right about now, we’re thinking 50 Cent would have rather been in da club than on da stage. The chart-topping hip-hopster cut short his set at Britain’s Reading Festival over the weekend after getting booed and pelted with plastic bottles by a hostile audience just minutes after he began performing. Accompanied by his G-Unit crew, 50 Cent hadn’t even taken the stage at the legendary U.K. music bash on Sunday evening when the cranky crowd of 55,000 began yelling insults at the former crack peddler and hurling plastic cups. Things got even worse when the lights came up on 50… Read more »

Apple Computer says it has sold five million songs in the first 10 weeks after opening three European iTunes Music Stores on the Internet in Germany, France and Britain. It made the announcement in a presentation on the fringes of the annual Apple Expo on Tuesday. Worldwide, Apple has sold more than four million of its market leading iPod digital music players and sold more than 100 million tracks on its iTunes online music store in the United States since it was launched in April last year.